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Last Resort

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Last Resort reviews
80
9.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 1 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Rowan Joffe
Pawel Pawlikowski

Directed by: Pawel Pawlikowski

Release Date:
Theatrical: February 23, 2001

Running Time: 75 minutes, Color

Origin: UK

Language(s): English and Russian (with English subtitles)

Summary

RATING: Not rated

Starring Dina Korzun, Artyom Strelnikov, Paddy Considine, Lindsey Honey, Perry Benson, Katie Drinkwater, Dave Bean, and Adrian Scarborough

Abandoned by her fiance at the airport, a young Russian woman, with child in tow, applies for asylum in England. With her dreams of a better life dampened by the faded seaside resort she must live in during the processing, an unusual friendship develops that gives her hope. A lyrical, beautifully poetic story that earns its deep emotion, Last Resort is a triumph for director Paul Pawlikowski. (Shooting Gallery)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Thanks to the wonderful performances from both Korzun and Considine, there isn't a forced or dishonest moment on-screen.

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90

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A huge delight.

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90

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

This is the best class of poetic realism, the kind you can believe in without a trace of hesitation.

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89

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Maddin's movie is, frame for frame, the densest and most spectacular (albeit cardboard-cheap) film playing anywhere.

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88

Chicago Tribune Loren King

A film that celebrates simple human kindness. If the ending feels somewhat unsatisfying, it is perhaps because one hates to see this too-brief film end at all.

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83

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Moving and eerily beautiful.

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80

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Unsatisfying at a very high level. It fritters away more than most movies ever offer up.

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80

Film.com Ernest Hardy

It's a sweet and wise film - neither groundbreaking nor revolutionary save for the fact that it places narrative and character arc at the center of its concerns.

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80

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

A hopeless romantic meets a hapless realist in this gritty, elegant drama brimming with spontaneous-seeming close-ups.

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80

TV Guide Ken Fox

Sweet, melancholy comedy; it's ineffable charm lies entirely in the delivery.

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80

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

His (Pawlikowski) love story, which is by turns sensuous, charming, and uniquely moving.

80

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

The movie's a beauty.

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75

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A little gem.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Quiet, finely etched and beautifully acted by Dina Korzun and the wise-beyond-his-years Artiom Strelnikov.

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75

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A slice of life in the most profound sense.

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75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The new movie year's poignant love story to beat.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Wesley Morris

A must-see.

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75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

I like the way Last Resort ends, how it concludes its emotional journey without pretending the underlying story is over. You walk out of the theater curiously touched.

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70

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Pawlikowski, whose background is in documentary film, has an eye for the menacingly forlorn and elegantly bleak. Last Resort, which was shot without a script and developed largely in collaboration with the actors, is a kind of verité fantasy.

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70

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Though Last Resort dwells on sorrowful circumstances and illuminates a grim corner of contemporary reality, it is far from depressing.

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70

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Compelling, if sometimes grittily depressing, viewing.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Curt M. gave it a 9:
A beautiful, hypnotic romance. Has the very quality missing from most American films: authentic and identifiable human behavior. High recommendation.

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